Pairing Beer and Cheese

Offering a cheese plate carefully paired with craft beer is a combination your guests will not soon forget. Pick out a few cheeses; select some appropriate beers. That’s about all there is to it. It is a simple yet elegant way to impress your friends and guests.

The wide range of tastes in beer allows beer to pair perfectly with a wide variety of cheeses. Beer’s carbonation adds an additional dimension that lifts the creamy cheese aftertaste from the palate and prepares it for the next bite. I count myself among those who feel beer is a better cheese pairer than wine.

I refreshed my brain recently on this topic and got excited all over again by the pairing suggestions from beer writer friends Lucy Saunders of Milwaukee, Julia Herz of Lyons, Colorado, and Randy Mosher of Chicago. All of this was prompted by a beer and cheese tasting I attended last summer that was conducted by the Cheeses of Europe group. My favorite pairing that day was a nutty, fruity French Comtè with the Midas Touch IPA from MAP Brewing Co. in Bozeman, Montana. If I were having this cheese in WV, I’d love to try it with Greenbrier Valley’s Devil Anse, Weathered Ground’s Haggard, Big Timber’s Double Bit, or similar.

Each person’s palate will have favorites. It’s fun exploring the landscape. Here are a few noted and classic pairings: 

• Creamy artisan blue/Roquefort cheese with a toasty/roasty ale such as a big Stout, Brown Ale, English Barleywine, or even an IPA;
• Smoked cheddar with a lightly-smoked Märzen or Porter;
• Extra sharp cheddar with an Imperial IPA
• A nutty well-aged Gouda with a Nut Brown Ale or Dunkleweizen; regular Gouda with a Vienna Lager or classic Oktoberfest;
• Brie with a Czech-style Pilsener or Saison;
• Aged artisan Swiss and Gruyere with porters and English stouts that have a touch of malty sweetness;
• A plate of spaghetti covered with a healthy dusting of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano served with a malty Dopplebock or Dubbel;
• Fresh mozzarella, chevre and dense, fresh artisan goat cheese with Hefeweizen, Belgian Wit, or American wheat ales;
• Emmental or baby swiss with a Kölsch or a soft, fruity Farmhouse Ale;
• Jarlsberg with a New England-style IPA

Check your local beer and cheese shops

I stopped at the Wine & Cheese Shop at Capitol Market in Charleston recently and was inspired by the variety of international cheeses they had on display. There was Spanish Manchego, French Brie, Swiss Jarlsberg, Dutch Gouda, Welsh Red Dragon, Swiss Gruyere, French Roquefort, and Greek Kasseri, just to name a few. I couldn’t help but think about how tasty it would be to sample those with complementing beers. The shop keeps a very good selection of U.S. and imported craft beer, and their staff is pretty knowledgable about the beer they sell. Another decent cheese outlet in Charleston, that may not immediately come to mind, is Drug Emporium, which also has a good beer selection. Both the Wine Shop and Drug Emporium offer lots of beers by the single bottle, which is the perfect way to buy them when you are looking for a selection of brews that you don’t want to buy a six-pack of. The larger Kroger stores have great cheese departments, maybe the best around, but you may need to look elsewhere to find all the beers you’ll want for pairing.

Beyond the beer and cheese, it’s pretty simple. Serve them along with some artisan crackers and/or breads. Have a pitcher of fresh water for glass-rinsing and hydrating between courses. If you want to, throw in a few nuts and maybe a nice chocolate candy of two for dessert. Your guests will be talking about the pairing for the rest of the year.

Beer & Food pairing reference books

Several super helpful beer reference books have very specific pairing suggestions, sometimes listing beers and cheeses by brand. Their ideas can serve as a good starting point for a tasty exploration. Following are the ones I love. They are all available through Amazon.

Cheeses of Europe has an informative website and also has a smart phone app that helps guide you. We are lucky that even here in West Virginia most of the famous European cheeses are available in our cheese shops. Cheeses of Europe website link.